Equipping young people to engage with media driven science experiences: beyond science knowledge to science literacy and discerning consumers of news.

This paper reports on a study of a curricular intervention for pupils (age 10-13 years) in the UK aimed at supporting critical engagement with science based media reports. In particular the study focused on core elements of knowledge, skills and attitudes identified in previous studies that characterize critical consumers of science presented as news. This was an empirical study based on classroom observation. Data included responses from individual pupils, in addition video recording of group activity and intentional conversations between pupils and teachers were scrutinised. Analysis focused on core tasks relating to different elements of critical reading. Pupils demonstrated a grasp of questioning and evaluating text, however the capacity to translate this experience in support of a critical response to a media report with a science component is limited in assessing the credibility of text and as an element in critical reading.

Applied behavior analysis: What do teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder know?

With rising numbers of school-aged children with autism educated in mainstream classroomsand applied behavior analysis (ABA) considered the basis of best practice, teachers’ knowledgein this field has become a key concern for inclusion. Self-reported knowledge of ABA of specialneeds teachers (n=165) was measured and compared to their actual knowledge of ABAdemonstrated in accurate responses to a multiple-choice test. Findings reported here show thatteachers’ self-perceived knowledge exceeded actual knowledge and that actual knowledge ofABA was not